So with the dust having settled on the 2012 season, I was wondering how all that happened across it altered your perceptions of, well, anything F1 related?

I mean for example, coming into this season, I had expected Heikki Kovalainen and Timo Glock to comfortably get the better of their respective teammates, but both Petrov and Pic ran them a lot closer than I had anticipated they would. So consequently, my opinions of both Kovalainen and Glock have faded a little, and I'd say Pic went up a significant amount in my estimation. Talking of which, I expected Caterham to be better than they were. To so nearly finish behind Marussia was kind of embarrassing. At the start of the year, they were the only one of the three new teams I had some respect for, in that they looked to be the one which might make strides towards the rest of the field. So as a result, my opinion of them has plummeted, and I have a little more respect for Marussia.

It doesn't have to be just drivers/teams, either. Maybe a second season with DRS/the Pirelli tyres has changed how you felt after the first season, be it for good or for bad, or your perception of a certain track is different to how it was 12 months ago, etc.

Beyond that there's only one major perception change for me: Pirelli's remit to provide substandard tyres is no longer just a bit naff, I'd now gladly remove my own legs to see it done away with. (And I like Alonso more.)

_________________I went skating on your name,And by tracing it twice,I fell through the ice,of Alice

Beyond that there's only one major perception change for me: Pirelli's remit to provide substandard tyres is no longer just a bit naff, I'd now gladly remove my own legs to see it done away with. (And I like Alonso more.)

Few of my opinions 1. I admit I have developed an immense respect for Alonso this year for what he did with that car.2. Kimi. Although I know he is capable, I seriously didnt expect him to get into the groove so quickly.3. If I ignore the mistakes Maldonado, Grosjean, Perez performed better than expected.4. Caterham, yes, I expected them to perform better but I guess the performace drop was probably due to them shifting base. Just speculating.

Made me realise that Vettel might actually be one of the greats, really thought nothing of him going into this year and while I still think he is pathetic when things do not go his way I have more respect for him as a driver now then I did last year. Still cannot warm to him as a person though.

Jenson's probably not as good as I thought he was, left worried that he fundamentally cannot win or perform better than a top class team mate unless the car's setting is perfect which rarely happens in F1. Now worried about how next year will go for him.

Hulkenberg impressed me whereas before I thought he might just be another driver who spends his career in the midfield now think he is a definite future race winner and even fancy him as a future WDC.

_________________Support: Kimi, Lewis, Jenson, THE HULK and Super Kevin Magnussen Respect: Eyebrow man, Schumi and finally after three long years Sebastian Vettel. Fairplay to the guy he is quick!Still don't like: Di Resta and his neck glassing team mate

That maybe Kovalainen isn't all that he is cracked up to be. At the end of 2011 you would have thought he would have comfortably wiped the floor with Petrov, but he hasn't. Petrov has run him alot closer than he should have. As you can probably guess, I don't rate Petrov at all.

Glock seems to be either slowly declining, Whether that be due to lack of motivation, or the teammates are slowly getting better. Probably a bit of both. I really don't see him getting a seat at another team and it seems he's signed his career away at Marrussia.

I was impressed with Marrussia. I thought they were a slightly more competent version of HRT but to their credit they developed their car much better than Caterham this year, who in my opinion had an appalling year. They have a Renault engine, a RB gearbox, KERS and they only just beat Cosworth powered Marrussia. And even then that was because of Caterham having KERS and Marrussia not.

Mercedes....don't even get me started on them. Let's just say it was an dreadful year.

Kimi still has it. Entertaining as always.Schumi disappointed. Pole at Monaco the only highlight.Lewis impressed again. Car let him down.Vettel on the way to becoming a great.Alonso rose in my estimation. A solid season.Caterham were the disappointment of the season.

Vettel came up a lot in my estimation, from 3 races - Spa, Abu Dhabi and Interlagos - none of which he won but drove superbly to finish where he did. The Interlagos finish was nothing short of a miracle - to quote garagetinkerer in another post - after being virtually dead in lap 1, he came through the field in a car that was on life support.

Hamilton had a good year and would have done better but for the car's reliability and a couple of smashes. He also showed better temperment in 2012 than he has done before.

Raikkonen was great considering that he was coming back after a 3-year layoff into a middling team with nothing remarkable to show in the last few years.

Hulkenburg and towards the end Senna showed some promise and future potential.

I disagree with OP regarding his loss of respect for Caterham. I think it's more a case that Caterham did a better job in building a better car from the get and Marussia simply did a better job of developing and implementing upgrades as the year progressed to close the gap to Caterham. As well, the Tires were a bit more difficult for Caterham to figure out according to their car's geometry where as the Marussia was respectably a bit easier on the tires. Glock and Kovi are still the better drivers in their respective teams and Pic and Petrov merely improved a bit to close the performance gap to their vastly more experienced teammates. Certainly neither Glock or Kovi are slouches, but in my personal opinion there are better drivers in F1 and their teammates couldn't best either of them so I don't know what that says about them?

As for my personal perception on 2012 as a whole... I don't ever care to see Sub-Par Tires or gimmicky systems ala DRS in the sport ever again to make it "easier" to overtake for the sake of the casual observer. The fact that Pirelli are switching the tire composition yet again after the teams just got them sort of figured out by the last 5 races of the season might lead to another uncertain start as the teams struggle to come to grips (no pun intended - ok, maybe a little ) on how the 2013 tires behave and how to maximize their performance.

I also learned that Lewis is not afraid to step out on his own and take on a challenge of monumental proportions. It took a whole lot of testicular fortitude to leave a situation that is almost a sure thing for a situation that requires a whole lot of HARD work and dedication to turn it into a sure thing. Reminds me of Michael leaving Benetton for Ferrari for the 96 season and I hope it turns out just as well for him.

POSITIVESCOTA A+++++ (what a venue and what a race! 'Nuff said!)

Hamilton A++++ (never say die attitude and was the clear team leader and showed McLaren what they will be missing. Way to go out!)Vettel A +++ (The guy is just fantastic. Never gave up and took advantage of every opportunity that presented itself.)Alonso A++ (Drove the wheels off a Ferrari that wasn't quite as good as the Red Bull, McLaren and possibly the Lots and still managed to win races and lead the championship for most of the season. Just raised his own stock that much more in 2012)Raikkonen A+++Massa A++ (Finally seems to be returning to his top form which is apparently very fast, as he had the measure of his more highly regarded teammate towards the end of the year. I look forward to seeing him progress back to the front of the grid.)Senna A (Proved he could consistently bring it home in the points and kept his head right for complete race distances, but needs to improve his speed a tad.)Maldonado A- (showed he had speed but lacked the mental discipline to bide his time and ruined his own races too many times.)Lotus/Renault A++ (Even with how badly the FIA screwed them with the changes right before the start of the season, they produced a top car capable of winning and they finally got back to par in the development game to maintain their position/form relative to everyone else. Kimi was in the hunt at almost every race and Grosjean looked quite quick himself a few times, which is a far cry from the dogs they produced the last 4 seasons.) Williams A+ (finally seem to be back to getting into form. Finally after many years of duking it out in the midfield at best, built a fast car that was capable of wins and they got 1 this year.) HRT A++ (even in financial uncertainty and hugely lacking resources the team never relented and continued to press forward, always improving a bit until the bitter end. What character to not throw in the towel. Nothing but respect to everyone on that team, drivers included.)

NEGATIVESGrosjean D- (showed he has the speed, too often cost himself and others heavily and it took FIA action for him to settle down, perhaps a bit too much)Mercedes C- (team mistakes cost Michael a few excellent results early in the year. Did poorly in the development race and lost ground as the year wore on)McLaren C- (Had what was likely the best car and cost their lead driver many valuable points early on AND did not handle the Hamilton situation properly to retain a guy who is unquestionably one of the top 4 drivers in the sport, out of nothing more than selfish pride. They may have in the end offered the most money but not until they came to realize he had real options out there. And the Trophy situation… well some of you know how I feel)

What I tried telling people last year about Maldonado came good in the second half of this year, not to mention a very mature drive in Barcelona.

Alonso in terms of his attitude to fans has gone down a lot in my view after blocking my boss on Twitter simply because she dared to tell him she didn't think his tattoo was that great. As a driver, however, he has proved exactly how much he can extract from a poor car, although I feel the weather and the mistake from Perez helped his case somewhat in Malaysia. After that, the car came good.

I'm disappointed in Hamilton's judgement in his defection to Mercedes, but I can kind of understand his reasoning. A bit.

McLaren themselves have both impressed [the car] and disappointed [the strategy] me this year. I'm not sure there's much more that needs saying on that front.

Marussia have also impressed me this year, nearly beating Caterham [for whom I have harboured a soft spot since 2010] and as a direct result of this, Pic and Petrov have gone up a lot in my estimation.

I was about to say Maldonado for his pure speed, but he's being flattered by Senna being slow and was largely beaten last year by Rubens who is the best part of 20 years his senior. I think Senna has flattered him this year by being extremely slow. Having said that, I don't think the Williams was on a par with the faster cars in Sinagpore where he qualified very well, so there is something to him.

Marussia very much impressed me, especially after having a dire 2011, as did HRT for not completely falling off the pace. I will definitely miss HRT.

Vettel: My opinion went up towards the end of the season when he had to overcome some adversities, particularly in Abu Dhabi and Brazil.Alonso: He always impresses me, and in 2012 it was no exception. How he was able to lead the championship for so long was a testament to his talent.Hamilton: He`s one of the best.Massa: Looks like he`s got some fighting spirit left as we can see from the last races.Maldonado: Wow he is fast. But he keeps crashing, although not as much at the end of the season. I hope to see him for more seasons as he is clearly talented.Mercedes: I had high hopes like I always did since they had Schumacher, but they seem to fail at everything now. The car`s quick, but it has always had tire problems.Caterham: Needs to stop talking about getting into the midfield, if they can`t do it.

Having said that, I don't think the Williams was on a par with the faster cars in Sinagpore where he qualified very well, so there is something to him.

2008 - Rosberg 5th in low fuel Q2, Nakajima 9th, in Q3 they were 9th and 10th - 2nd place in the race for Rosberg2009 - Rosberg fastest in low fuel Q2, 3rd in Q3, lost a chance for winning after making mistake exiting pits2010 - Barrichello 6th in Q3 and in the race2011 - despite car being crap all year they qualified P11 and P12, Maldonado was outqualified by Barrichello by 2 tenths

Make no mistake, Williams in Singapore was always on fire, even with solid, but not spectacular drivers like Rosberg and Barrichello. Maldonado is in the same bracket. It's no surprise that Williams insiders say Bottas is fundamentally quicker than both Maldonado and Senna, they just had very good car this year.

Vettel - now I know he's only good driver and nothing special, he wasn't any great or consistent at the beginning of the year, when he was beaten by journeyman Webber, and only started to shine when Newey came up with another rocketship, also he made pathetic mistakes in Malaysia, Hockenheim, Brazil and Abu Dhabi (hitting Senna and then DRS board behind SC, laughable racecraft)

Hamilton - definitely up, confirming what he showed in 2007 already, when he has head in the right place, he is consistent and almost unstoppable, mechanical gremlins and McLaren fools robbed him of title

Alonso - superb for 85% of the season, squeezed everything from dog of a car, but at the end he was slower than Massa, which was the problem - it's not a shame to be equally fast to Massa, but to be slower than him is not the greatest thing, but in the end I respect him more than before

Kimi - surprised by his consistency after 2 year break, very good, but not great year, and he's not that fast as some of his fans want, with Grosjean still outpacing him at the end of the year in Singapore or Austin

Massa - skyrocketing up in the second half of the season, I didn't think he had this fire anymore, he was always good, but Alonso was making him looking bad in this awful car

Button, Webber - great on their days, although they are quite rare, Webber confirmed he's journeyman, while Button is good, but not racing driver like Hamilton

Grosjean - I knew he was quick, but all these mistakes were huge surprise, I thought he wouldn't be any different to other drivers in that respect

Rosberg, Schumacher - the same, I always thought Mercedes for 3 years had pair of journeymen, Hamilton will mop the floor with Rosberg next year

Perez - confirmed his fantastic and sometimes untouchable speed from GP2 and 2011 when he finally got good enough car, destroyed Kobayashi speed-wise, but he absolutely needs to tame aggression in order to truly shine, if he can do it, Button and WDC are for him to take

Hulkenberg - always was class act and he is, it's a shame such great driver was out of F1 for a year and in 2012 he showed it was huge mistake, star of the future

Kobayashi - I always thought he was average driver with very few moments of brilliance and he proved me right, one can wonder what Perez could have achieved in 2010 Sauber with his huge talent and speed, when he wouldn't need to take care about tyres like he had to do with Pirellis in 2011 and 2012 and only relentlessy drive on the limit lap after lap

di Resta - huge letdown, I thought he was much better, but Hulk made him average, 2013 will be his last chance to show something, because right now he is looking like a journeyman

Maldonado - fast driver without brain? fast driver without brain, although he surpsised me in the end when he cut significantly number of mistakes

Senna - nothing changes, useless pay driver taking spot in very fast car 2nd year in a row, I hope next year he will be finally gone

Vergne, Ricciardo - I thought their rivalry will be more fierce, but the car was much worse than last year, JEV disappointed me a little

Petrov - I didn't expect he could beat Kovalainen and he did, good job, likely he ended careers of 2 journeymen in Heidfeld and Kovalainen

Kovalainen - journeyman, I knew he lied about being much better driver than in McLaren stint, matched and beaten by Petrov, liar, liar pants on fire

Glock - again, journeyman only in F1 to cash checks

Pic - better than I thought, I expected he would be well beaten by Glock, but he drove quite well

de la Rosa, Karthikeyan - journeyman and pay driver, more or less expected though de la Rosa had 2 fantastic qualifying session in Monaco and Canada which was quite surprising

My perception of other people's perceptions is all that has changed. I didn't realize until this year how differently some folks see Formula 1. Those that only watch the on track action have a completely different impression of the cars, the drivers, the teams, the bosses, the officials..than people who spend the time to learn the behind the scenes stories. Same with the difference in opinions between people who have some understanding of the team point of view vs. the fan point of view, and people who understand the engineering side vs those with no clue.

My perception of other people's perceptions is all that has changed. I didn't realize until this year how differently some folks see Formula 1. Those that only watch the on track action have a completely different impression of the cars, the drivers, the teams, the bosses, the officials..than people who spend the time to learn the behind the scenes stories. Same with the difference in opinions between people who have some understanding of the team point of view vs. the fan point of view, and people who understand the engineering side vs those with no clue.

agree with the whole post, specially bold, underlined bit here.

As for the drivers:

Vettel: won me over, doing the best job with a non dominant carWebber: proved, just like in 2010, that he is a match for the best but not consistent enough.Hamilton: really proved to me why he is considered a class actButton: I don't think his struggles where on him, other than that he also showed me why he is regarded as a class act with some spectacular drives.Alonso: did the best from a bad situation, one of the best drivers in this era. I didn't regard him that highly before.Massa: second half showed why he is at FerrariKimi: same as Alonso.Grosjean: really impressed with his pace and racecraft after the first corner, potential WDC.Rosberg: starting the year he finally justified the hyper around him, ending the year had the opposite effect but i suspect that was more due to Mercedes testing new things.Shumacher: showed (to me at least) that he still has it and i would bet in a Redbull he would have won the WDC, even in a Ferrari he might have.Perez: spectacular drives and totally outclassed Kobayashi that for me isn't worth much unfortunately.Kobayashi: never rated him highly, solid driver.Hulkenberg: i always said he was a class act, i think he can firmly beat the current WDCs in equal machinery! and will eventually be regarded as one of the best in the history of the sport.DiResta: my perception of him is derived from my perception of Hulk, i think he is very solid. A new Webber.Maldonado: not entirely sold on him yet, but he has the Senna character in him as Blinky once said. Certainly has the paceSenna: has the talent and consistency, his time off racing did him major harm. i want him to stay in F1Glock: i think he should have a better carPic: for a rookie, he did a terrific job keeping Glock at bayHeikki: would beat out most of the midfield, but not the top 6-7 guys (including Massa)Petrov: same as Heikki Delarosa: class act, but not F1 classNarain: shouldn't be here.Ricciardo: if TR have a better car next year and he does as good of a job as he did this year he deserves a RBR drive, better than nearly all who came through TR.Vergne: has racecraft, but not quali pace. will be interesting between him and Riciardo in a better car

So talking of seeing differing perceptions - some people in this thread say they like SV less because he proved he relies on a dominant car, while some say they think more of him because he proved he doesn't need a reliable car. I don't think there's any other sport where you can get both sides of the coin like that

So talking of seeing differing perceptions - some people in this thread say they like SV less because he proved he relies on a dominant car, while some say they think more of him because he proved he doesn't need a reliable car. I don't think there's any other sport where you can get both sides of the coin like that

So talking of seeing differing perceptions - some people in this thread say they like SV less because he proved he relies on a dominant car, while some say they think more of him because he proved he doesn't need a reliable car. I don't think there's any other sport where you can get both sides of the coin like that

I always thought Raikkonen was over-rated, overpaid and a bit of an ar$£hole before this year, and in many ways I wanted him to fail in his comeback... Especially driving for Lotus who I haven't yet forgiven for their treatment of Heidfeld.

I've warmed to him this year though, he's proven me wrong and given me a few laughs particularly towards the end of the season.

I'll never like Vettel, but he has proven to me that he's at least on the same level as Alonso and Hamilton. He seems to have a relentless drive about him that means whenever he has to achieve a result, he invariably does. Something we don't always see in Hamilton and Alonso.

What gets me is just how quick some people are go forget things, for instance Hamilton leading the team this year. Yea his end of year drives were very good but lets not forget just how poor he was mid season and his social media antics, kov i think drove well until he realised his seat was far from safe then seemed to fade. Although the season was entertaining i didn't like that fact that the Pirellis suited some drivers more than other by having such a narrow optimum window. As for the whole vettel Alonso debate, fans will say whatever to make their favorite sound better my view Alonso did very well in a Ferrari that people made out to be worse than it was, qualifying yes poor race pace was good and during the mid season period it was one of the fastest. He capitalized on other mistakes and kept his racing clean, it all fell apart from spa in my view. As for vettel he didn't have a dominant car all year yet he still fought regardless, when he does have a fast car he is usually up there and when its not he is usually still ensuring he is getting the points. People say his brazil race was spectacular yes in a sense but was littered with luck just like some of alonsos races. For instance that red bull would not have made the race distance had the weather cleared up as the rain stopped it from overheating due to one of the exhausts from being crimped from the accident and the safety cars played into his hand. Both sets of fans say the other driver complains when things don't go his way what i find is that both are extremely whingy if its not going well for them but i guess its the sign of winners that they aren't happy to fight for say 6th they want 1st.

Thoroughly shocked by Mercedes and I have to say the past 3 years have lowered my opinions on Ross Brawn somewhat.Impressed by Alonso. I still don't like him too much, but respect for his driving skills.Impressed by Hamilton. He was faultless.Impressed by Vettel. He has had some drives (Abu Dhabi, Spa, Brazil) where he has confirmed what I already thought of him.

And I have also learnt that for some people, some drivers will never do enough, regardless of their performances. After 2012 there are still people stating "Alonso's not that great", "Hamilton's not that great" or "Vettel's not that great".

I think the only person who went down in my estimation was Kovalainen, after all the hype he had last year and links to Ferrari he had such a scruffy year and was not as far from Petrov as most though he would be. The experienced top drivers showed their exprience while the rising stars showed some skill and promise. Alonso has underlined his status as a great driver, consistent but can deliver when required in all conditions, Hamilton has redeemed himself from a shocking 2011 and shown amazing pace, Vettel has made mistakes but the way he can dominate has been phenomenal. Schumacher showed one last gimpse o the legend that as but its sad his only podium was in farcial circumtances but he has come across in a different ligt since he came back so my opinion of him has changed thanks to that, maybe biggest disapointment was Webber who was absoutley nowehere and has outlined why he is not WDC material. Team wise my opinion of Mclaren has reached the lowest It has ever been, they have wasted a great car and chance at the championship with extreme incompetence despite having two of the top six drivers on the grid, and thats from someone who has never supported the team or its drivers. Mercedes have been very poor as have Cathm.

Vettel = Struggled to beat Webber during the first half of the season, impressively dominant when the car improved latter season.Webber - Decent opening 10 or 11 races, season sort of fell apart after that. Too inconsistent.Alonso + Managed to fight at the front all season with a less competitive car. Deserved to win 3rd title.Massa = Possibly the worst driver on the grid during the first half of the season, but impressed in latter races. Amazing turnaround.Hamilton + Incredibly fast and almost faultless all season, but had the worst luck of anyone in 2012.Button - Can be very good, but has too many off-days, his run from Spain to Britain was awful.Raikonnen + Great comeback year, consistent and fast.Grosjean - Has some speed and potential. Involved in far too many incidents though.Rosberg = Amazing win in China and podium in Monaco. Mercedes car tailed off after 7 or 8 good races.Schumacher = Had awful luck when the Mercedes was a good car, which cost him a load of points. 2012 was the best of his comeback years though.Perez + Amazing drives in Malaysia and particularly Monza. Should have scored more points though.Kobayashi = Suzuka race and Spa qualifying aside, he didn't match Perez's pace. An average season.Hulkenberg + Excellent 2012 season, I firmly believe he can be a multi WDC one day.Di Resta - As an FI fan, Di Resta really dissappointed me. Easily beaten by Hulkenberg.Maldonado + Immense qualifying speed, can be a top driver if he cuts out mistakes.Senna - Terrible qualifying performances, lacked speed and didn't score many points.Ricciardo + Qualified well, showed maturity and consistency.Vergne = Decent rookie season, though Ricciardo looks the better prospect.

Thoroughly shocked by Mercedes and I have to say the past 3 years have lowered my opinions on Ross Brawn somewhat.

Missed that one. Yes, I've been very disappointed by the way that Mercedes don't appear to improve at all year on year. With the resources they have available they should at least be battling closer to Lotus.

On the subject of teams, Lotus have impressed me this year with the way they managed to keep up with the big boys. They had a glitch after the summer break when their upgrades didn't seem to work as planned but they kept at it and bounced back in the last few races. Still have work to do with regard to strategy and pits stops but engineering wise they can be proud.

Red Bull were awesome in the way they kept improving almost race by race. Do they have a weakness?

McLaren disappointed with the number of unforced errors and reliability issues, especially after producing what was arguably the best car of the year. Some I'm sure are luck of the draw and I've always been a supporter of theirs, but after a while you have to think: what are you doing? Impressed with how their pit stops improved over the season but in general the season was a black mark for them as they should have been in contention for both titles and they weren't even close to either. Lucky Lotus had that mid-season glitch (and Grosjean!) or they probably would have lost third in the Constructors, too. Management needs to look hard at themselves.